“When people saw the names, they probably went, ‘hang on, a cricketer and a comedian?'” Harris told the BBC this month.

“But why not? If you had three people like me, people would fall asleep. I think we’re a good, broad team, we cover lots of bases.”

“Clarkson-era Top Gear was already passing its sell by date by the time Jeremy lost his temper with his producer,” said Ed Power in the Irish Times. “So the introduction of younger and frankly less offensive presenters was probably going to happen sooner rather than later anyway.”

The first episode, broadcast on Sunday night, saw the new trio pit their first cars against each other across Ethiopia.

In a scene which symbolised the new show’s apparent attempts to become more relatable, Flintoff admitted selling his original Porsche Boxster because he was getting too carried away with fame as a star sportsman and it was having a negative impact on his cricket career.

“The beauty of Ethiopia was frequently extolled, whereas before it might have served as a backdrop for a borderline racist prank,” commented Dowling in his review.

Media playback is unsupported on your device x Media captionNell Gifford said performing at the circus she founded helped her cope with advanced cancer The co-founder of one of the UK’s best-known traditional travelling circuses has died at the age of 46. Nell Gifford, who had breast cancer, died on Sunday surrounded by family, Stroud-based […]